EcoCash will run itself out of business with its transaction fees

EcoCash, EcoCash Cassava Smartech, EcoCash WhatsApp scam using, remittance, remittances, FCA, USD

There is a Twitter user by the name of @PrivateDaniels who revealed the stark contrast in fees between an EcoCash to EcoCash and a ZIPIT transaction from his bank to an EcoCash user (yay interoperability). He (I am assuming its a male judging from the handle) sent ZWL$2 000 from his EcoCash to another and did the same with a ZIPIT transaction out his BancABC to another EcoCash user directly. The figures he posted revealed that the mobile money operator (MMO) isn’t doing itself any favours and will run itself out business.

For the EcoCash transaction his starting balance was ZWL$2254.31 and after the transaction of ZWL$2000 he was left with ZWL$143.66. Doing the maths that’s the starting balance minus the amount transferred. We are left with ZWL$254.31 which we will remove the final balance from to get the charge, which is ZWL$110.65.

For the ZIPIT transaction, the starting balance was ZWL$31 851.95 and the same amount was transferred. BancABC charged @PrivateDaniel ZWL$25.00 for the outgoing ZIPIT and ZWL$40.00 for the 2% Tax.

The total amount in fees for the ZIPIT transaction was ZWL$65.00. That’s ZWL$45.65 less than sending the same amount over EcoCash.

You might as well open a bank account than to send money over EcoCash

The difference might be minor to some but in these very difficult times, every penny counts. It is much more reasonable to send money to someone’s bank account than it is to send via EcoCash. This means that if I know someone with who relies solely on an EcoCash wallet, I’d send them money from my bank directly meaning EcoCash gets nothing from that transaction.

Eventually, I’d probably recommend they open an FBC account on their phone and send them the money via ZIPIT so they also ebjoy low fees when they get to use the money.

It gets much worse when we look at the EcoCash charges that are coming into effect on the 14th of January. That same transaction next year will cost ZWL$40.00 (2% Tax) and a ZWL$91.85 fee to send to a registered user. That’s a grand total of ZWL$ 131.85, that’s a 19.16% increase from the current fees!

Even if bank fees go up, I doubt they will get up to an amount anywhere near what EcoCash is charging.

10 comments

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  1. Zoro

    As much as ecocash may seem expensive, it’s not a bank, it’s just for your convenience,to send money to every cornner of the country where banks are not present. Therefore, for such a convenience, you will pay an extra cent.

  2. Samaita

    No Ecocash won’t run out of business. “Everyone” uses Ecocash and only a handful use banks. Kumusha we buy mazhanje using Ecocash. In Mbare we buy tomatoes using Ecocash. Kwese TV is a very good example of how price alone will not deter customers from buying a good product.

    1. Anonymous

      Who still uses Kwese if I may ask?

  3. Imi vanhu musadaro

    Lol. EcoCash charges have generally been incredibly high. I wonder why it’s suddenly news today..! You didn’t need a lengthy maths examples to deduce that.

    You can also ZIPIT to EcoCash now, fortunately.

    It was/is daylight robbery: bank to wallet (get charged), wallet to wallet (get charged), then if the recipient needs to use some money in the bank, wallet to bank (get charged).

    Despite that, EcoCash will not lose business at all. At least not to banks, maybe to competing wallets like One Money. But, their merchant and network chain is smaller than EcoCash’s.

  4. Ronald Webb

    Zimbabwe should follow the examples of Tanzania and Kenya where mobile money fees have to be disclosed to the customer at the time of the transaction. The high visibility of fees would help consumers see the real cost of their payment channels. RBZ – mandate fee disclosure!

    1. Tinashe Nyahasha

      This would really help. Consumers generally don’t seem to be aware of how much their transactions cost

      1. Imi vanhu musadaro

        The question is, do consumers care? A lot of people don’t. Even those who are banked don’t even bother to check their **FREE** online statements to review their transactions and charges.

        Personally, I habitually do and found that even banks @Stanbic can overbill IMTT or fail to reverse transactions correctly.

  5. Taking-care-of-my-money

    It’s just not clever people who ignore when they are being ripped off. Ecocash charges are unreasonable and if you are watching your money you should discontinue it.

    I have no allegiance to anyone that rips me off.

    I now use bank-to-ecocash never ecocash-to-ecocash!

    1. Washie Mazhindu

      Most astonishingly, prices have been stable for the past six months and apparently nothing to just and upward increment of tariffs. Ecocash have been gold diggers and still have the yesteryear hangover of greediness when the economy was volatile. Econet stop the madness, what justifies the increase today. One you will lose the clients you are taking for a ride. We are watching your silly and inconsiderate moves.

  6. Tendai

    Right now as we speak, you can live without EcoCash, why because zipit has made it possible, you can setup a cheap NMB or BancABC or an FBC Lite account in minutes without going into a bank and u can receive money from EcoCash or send To an EcoCash account immediately , once I discovered this I stopped using EcoCash and Steward Bank altogether.

    The new setup allows u to even buy mazhanje from anywhere Chero kumusha usina ecocash, as for the so called merchant network ye ecocash, it makes no difference, customer care ye ecocash is horrible and many banks have way better customer care and support.

    The only reason why ecocash continues to thrive is because when folks are used to something it takes them long before they can change but otherwise as we speak u don’t need ecocash for anything since u can send money to an ecocash account via zipit instantly

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